I just received, from the resident Deputy Federal Security Director, a notification of a slight change in security procedures at Easterwood Airport in College Station:
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Please be aware that TSA has implemented new procedures related to the screening of footwear which will result in more passengers being asked to remove their shoes so they can be scanned by the x-ray. We will also be adjusting the opening times for the checkpoint as necessary to accomodate the extra time necessary to screen passengers due to the new procedures.
The determination as to which passengers will be asked to remove their shoes will be made by the screener at the WTMD.
FYI in case you are confronted by any passengers with questions or complaints because they were asked to remove their shoes.
Gary N. Wentrcek
Deputy Federal Security Director
Transportation Security Administration
U. S. Department of Homeland Security
Easterwood Airport (CLL)
1 McKenzie Terminal Blvd. Ste. 207
College Station, Texas 77845
(979) 691-7251 office
(979) 691-7252 fax
(979) 218-1049 cell
(888) 532-5802 pager
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I know Mr. Wentrcek. He's a good man, and I'm sure he's "just doing his job" like so many other well-meaning bureaucr--er, I mean, public servants. I have to wonder how many shoe bombs have been discovered thanks to this method of imposing yet another humiliation on those still foolish enough to fly the unfriendly skies in this country. Why don't they just cut to the chase and strip-search everyone, for crying out loud? I'm tempted to smuggle a pack of plastic knives on board my next flight (which might never happen, thankyouverymuch), just to embarass the TSA.
The fact of the matter is that the 9/11 hijackers didn't smuggle their own weapons aboard; they were placed there by ground crew or someone else who managed to violate the "secure" perimeter of the airport grounds...which is much easier to do than we might be led to believe by the TSA. They also didn't use firearms, but plastic weapons, which means two things: one, the scanners wouldn't have stopped them, and two, if even one person on board each aircraft had been armed with a firearm, 9/11 would not have happened. Does anyone doubt that, had he been armed, Todd Beamer would have dispatched the hijackers on his aircraft prior to making the call to his wife?
If you're tired of the taxpayer-funded airport scanning stations that are effective only in abusing and humiliating law-abiding citizens, then contact your representatives and demand that they explain to you why airline pilots are not armed, and what exactly it is about boarding an aircraft that justifies abridging the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms (it might interest you to know that the disarming of airline pilots and passengers is a relatively recent development). You might ask them why supposedly privately-owned air carriers are not permitted to set their own rules regarding on-board possession of firearms. Can they tell you why the government seems to distrust law-abiding citizens with guns? Inquiring minds want to know!
Me, I'm boycotting the airlines until they get their act together. And I'm going to be asking my representatives why they feel the need to use the money they pick from my pocket to bail out failing airlines...
Posted by jon at May 27, 2003 03:44 PM